Following day 4 finals at the 2016 FINA Short Course World Championships in Windsor, Canada, Team USA and Russia have maintained their top 2 spots in the medal count, while Japan has moved up into 3rd.

Tonight, Andrew made the transition from national age group and world junior records to a world champion by defeating 100m IM world record holder Vlad Morozov. Andrew pushed over the last 10-meters to emerge victorious in a time of 51.84.

Based on the math that has been triple-vindicated by Krista Kezbers, Tait Pinnow, and myself (thanks to both for their help), we can confidently say that the men’s NCAA selection, barring any changes between today and tomorrow’s expected release, will take every swimmer ranked 29th or higher (including a tie in the 400 IM for 29th), plus the five top swimmers on the 30th line.

As compared to the women’s line, this is not quite as clean. In the women’s meet, exactly all 39 top rows were taken. In the men’s line, the tie will have to be broken.

In the event of a tie, that tie is broken based on whichever swims are closest to their NCAA Championship (not overall NCAA) record. The formula is basically: NCAA CR/Time = Percentage, and whoever has the highest number wins.

Straddling the Cut Line

Below is a chart of those swimmers who are right on the cut line. The 7 who are not crossed off are the 7 who are relevant in the discussion as they’ve not already qualified higher.

Based on the math below, Kentucky’s Brandon Flynn, Texas’ Aaron Gustafson, Utah’s Kristian Kron, Virginia Tech’s Brandon Fiala, and Texas’ Imri Ganiel all got in. The Longhorn men had two on that 30th line, and they both snuck in. Kentucky wasn’t quite as lucky – Flynn got in, but senior Eric Bruck is the first alternate.

Bruck will still swim in Kentucky’s relays, making him one of the few who can say they’ll represent two different teams at the NCAA Championships. He was an NCAA qualifier at Clemson before that program was cut.

50 free

Eric Bruck

Kentucky

19.47

94.86%

100 free

Sidni Hoxha

Old Dominion

42.98

200 free

Hassaan Abdel-Khalik

Michigan

1:34.71

500 free

Chris Swanson

Penn

4:18.31

1650 free

Brandon Flynn

Kentucky

15:03.42

95.65%

100 back

Aaron Gustafson

Texas

46.57

95.77%

200 back

Kristian Kron

Utah

1:42.41

95.28%

100 breast

Imri Ganiel

Texas

53.23

95.25%

200 breast

Alex Gianino

UNC

1:55.69

100 fly

Pedro Coutinho

Louisville

–

94.85%

200 fly

tied for 29th

200 IM

Brandon Fiala

Virginia Tech

1:44.71

95.97%

400 IM

Sam Rowan

Arizona

3:45.64

Full List of Expected NCAA Qualifiers is Below

Note that this is all unofficial until the NCAA’s official release on Wednesday.

Santo will be going to NC’s to swim several relays. Of the 235 on roster only 37 (15%)were freshman and only 3 frosh made the 50 Free cut. A lot of people got left off NC roster for individual swims at many schools this year. The 50 Free cut was particularly hard to make this year.

Pretty interesting to see that USC had two of the top recruits in the country who couldn’t make NCAAs their freshman year in Condorelli and Stumph. Hopefully this is just a part of adjusting to college and that they are there next year. Danny Tucker not making the meet is a little bit of a shock too after how fast he was at the US Open last summer.

Speaking of USC, I am surprised Spinazzola, Luca is entered. He hasn’t swum a dual meet this semester I don’t think and didn’t go to Pac 12’s. Hope he actually is going and didn’t just take up a slot that another swimmer would love the opportunity to go to NCAA’s.

About Braden Keith

The most common question asked about Braden Keith is "when does he sleep?" That's because Braden has, in two years in the game, become one of the most prolific writers in swimming at a level that has earned him the nickname "the machine" in some circles.
He first got his feet …